Squad announced for first match in front of supporters since September 2019
*Got a ticket? Important information for spectators is available here*
After 12 behind-closed-doors fixtures and 609 days since spectators’ last visit, The 1st Central County Ground finally reopens its gates to members and supporters on Thursday for Sussex’s match against Northamptonshire in Group 3 of the LV= Insurance County Championship.
Head coach Ian Salisbury has named a 13-man squad for the encounter, with two changes from the squad announced ahead of Sussex’s draw with Kent in their previous match two weeks ago. Jofra Archer and Ollie Robinson are replaced by Jamie Atkins and Ali Orr. Archer is recovering from surgery on his elbow, while Ollie Robinson will soon join up with England having been selected in the squad for next month’s Test series against New Zealand.
Jamie Atkins returns to the squad after being rested for the Kent match
Mitch Claydon (calf), Sean Hunt (side) and Phil Salt (foot) remain unavailable through injury. Chris Jordan will travel to the UK this weekend from Barbados where he has been located since the postponement of the IPL. After fulfilling quarantine requirements, he will return to training to build fitness and bowling loads in preparation for the start of the Vitality Blast.
Sussex and Yorkshire were the two Group 3 teams not in action during the last round of fixtures, but wet weather across the country restricted the other four teams to draws and limited any movement in the table.
Sussex remain fifth with 64 points from their six matches, 12 points behind this week’s opposition, Northamptonshire and three ahead of bottom side Kent, who have played a game more.
With 21 dismissals, off-spinner Jack Carson is the member of Sussex’s matchday squad with the most wickets so far this Championship season. Among spinners, only Essex’s Simon Harmer (34) has more wickets, albeit at a higher average than Carson.Tom Haines is the competition’s ninth highest run-scorer with 506 runs at an average of 46.
Ticket holders for this week’s fixture will have the opportunity to see a number of Sussex players in live action for the first time. Atkins, Carson, Henry Crocombe, Travis Head and Orr are yet to play for Sussex in front of a crowd.
Sussex squad
Ben Brown (captain, wicketkeeper), Jamie Atkins, Jack Carson, Tom Clark, Henry Crocombe, George Garton, Tom Haines, Travis Head, Stuart Meaker, Ali Orr, Delray Rawlins, Aaron Thomason, Stiaan van Zyl
View from the coach’s office
On the return of spectators: “Everyone involved is just so excited to have spectators back this week. There are a number of cricketers in our squad that have never played in front of a crowd. Tom Clark made his debut in front of supporters at the end of 2019, but every debutant since then hasn’t. Jack Carson is about to play his eleventh game and it will be his first with anyone in the stands! So, the youngsters can’t wait, but it has been a long time without fans for all the players. The way the guys have trained this week, you can see it is an extra source of motivation. Players and coaches alike, we want to show everyone where we have got to as a young side over the last six games and the style of cricket we are looking to play.”
Sussex supporters will get their first glimpse of Jack Carson in the flesh
On a break from the action during the last round of matches: “It’s not just the four days of a match, it’s the two days of training a week that you have to take into account when it comes to workloads. That’s especially true of a young side, where they are needing to work extra hard to make sure they are getting better and can’t just rest between games. So, the guys definitely needed a break, as much mentally as physically. From a personal point of view, it was good to be able to go and watch the second team and have a look at the next bunch of youngsters coming through. Ali Orr got some runs and the seamers had a good run out.”
On Ollie Robinson’s England call up: “Congratulations to Ollie. We want to be producing players for Sussex and England and Ollie is the perfect role model for young players at the club coming through. He’s worked very hard to hone his skills, he’s been one of the leading bowlers in the country for the last three or four seasons and there is no better example for our young seamers to look to emulate. Even though Ollie is looking ahead to a potential Test debut, he’s been in all week helping us prepare for this week’s match.”
On bringing Matt Prior in to work with the squad: “Matt came in off his own back a few times previously and we saw an opportunity to add him to the coaching set up on a consultancy basis. We have to get the winning mentality back at Sussex and who better to have around than someone who has won so much with the club and with England. He’s going to be with us for practice days and the first few days of the next four Championship matches.”
On the remainder of the group stage: “We’ve got four games to determine which division we go into, and we want to win as many of those as possible. We want to be playing as high a standard of cricket as possible in the four divisional games so we can continue to test ourselves against the best and develop our young players as effectively as possible.”
Opposition
Unbeaten at home with wins against Sussex and Glamorgan and draws versus Kent and Lancashire, Northants have had a tougher time in their two away trips so far: a heavy defeat against Lancashire in the second round of matches was followed by an agonising one-run loss against Yorkshire two weeks later.
That record leaves captain Adam Rossington’s team in fourth place in Group 3, 12 points ahead of Sussex in fifth and four points behind third-placed Glamorgan, with a game in hand.
Rossington is one of five Northants batsmen to average over 40 so far this campaign. The others are Gareth Berg, Rob Keogh, Ricardo Vasconcelos and Saif Zaib. Vasconcelos is the team’s highest run-scorer with 493 from his eight innings so far, although you have to go back five innings for his last score of fifty or more. That was his 185 not out as Northants pulled off an incredible chase to beat Glamorgan by seven wickets. The South African has two centuries to his name so far this campaign, the other coming against Kent (154) in the opening round. Northants’ other centurions this season are Keogh and Zaib. Keogh scored 124 versus Kent and 126 in that famous run-chase against Glamorgan, while Zaib bagged a maiden first-class hundred in the demolition of Sussex at Northampton at the start of May.
Ricardo Vasconcelos is Northants' top scorer so far this season
Berg and Ben Sanderson are the county’s leading wicket takers, with 20 each. Of those, Sanderson took ten and Berg nine in that match against Sussex. While Sanderson’s wickets are coming at an average of 31, Berg is taking his at 19.3. It is no surprise, therefore, that the 40-year-old has accepted a new one-year contract extension this week.
Squad: TBA
Match Information
Play is scheduled to begin at 11am on all four days of the match. Only members and supporters with tickets will be able to attend and there will be no ticket sales or collections on the gate. A limited number of tickets are available to purchase online until 5pm on Wednesday 26th May.
Important information for spectators attending is available here.
Supporters not attending the match will still be able to watch every ball via the live stream on the Sussex Cricket Match Centre. This also includes a live scorecard, video clips of key moments and match statistics.
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